Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Blog

Water damage restoration experts say that the best step to start working on water damage at a residence is to make the owners of the place act fast and deal with the damage until water damage restoration agents come and deal with the damages professionally. Water damages can lead to serious complications; that is why water damage restoration experts advise people to follow the following tips.

1. After a Flood:

Follow the following steps after a flood.• If the cause of the flood is a burst pipe or a failure of water heater, turn off the main water line for your residence. Call water damage restoration services as soon as possible. • Shut down the power by cutting off the electricity and gas from their main sources. It is essential whether the leak is small or large to do this step as all it takes is one drop to cause a disaster. It is better to have an electrician to handle shutting off in case you have standing water.• You need to assess the damage in order to know how much money you will pay for the water damage restoration service. Take some pictures for the insurance company.• Save your most valuable possessions and remove any valuable items. Don’t waste time cleaning anything; just rescue everything first.

2. Get Rid of Standing Water:

When the water sits for a long time, the damages will be disastrous. Here are some tips that you should follow in order to get rid of any standing water.• When everything is safe, start pumping out any standing water.• When you deal with a natural flood, wait until the water of the flood have receded below your place. • You need to wear protective gear while working in your flooded house. Wear rubber boots, gloves, and a mask or respirator.• You need to keep your kids and pets away from the standing water. Any standing water is contaminated and may be harmful to your kids and pets.• The place of the pump should be at the lowest spot of the area affected by the flooded water.• The usage of a wet-dry vacuum is the best solution for small amount of flooding.

3. Mold and Mildew:

Mold need water damage restoration services experts to deal with it. You need to assess mold for your insurance company and to help the water damage restoration agents. Follow the following steps.• Mold can grow anywhere. It can be visible and it can grow in air ducts, between walls, rafters, and crawl spaces.• If mold is not visible, find any noticeable must earth smell. If there is any, then there is invisible mold undetected.• Mildew and mold develop within 48 hours after exposure to moisture.• Turn off the power as mold will make any wires or cables wet which is extremely dangerous.• Dry the area out before mold spreads to other areas and becomes hard to remove by water damage restoration agents. When mold stays for long time, it will invade more areas and become uncontrollable.• Don’t use fans to dry out the place as they may spread the spores of the mold to new places.

Water damage restoration services offer their customers informative guides to help them deal with any kind of water damage in their houses. The best water damage restoration services will provide you with information in situations like home leaks, mold control, how to deal with water damage until water damage restoration experts arrive and other situations. These tips will be provided to you by any water damage restoration agent regarding how to deal with leaks in order to save your residence and reduce the costs of repairing your place. Let’s see what experts say.

1. Hot Water Tanks:

You need to check the pressure relief valve of the tank of hot water regularly because sometimes they are plumbed into a drain. They may be leaking while you have no idea. You will know that they are leaking when you are not able to remove the drain pipe in order to check for a leak. You will listen for a hissing sound when the valves are leaking.

2. Toilets:

These steps will show you how to check your toilet for a leak.• Remove the top off the tank and listen as close as you can. If you heard any hissing, try to locate its source.• After locating the source of the leak, assess it and determine whether you can fix it or not. If you are not able to fix it, call water damage restoration services and have an expert to deal with the problem professionally.• If you didn’t notice anything, put some food coloring with a couple of drops in the tank and wait about 5 minutes. If there is coloring in the bowl, then there is a leak in the flapper at the tank’s bottom. This leak is allowing water to seep through. Decide whether you can fix it by yourself or you need a water damage restoration expert.• Repeat if you have more toilets.

3. Meter Line:

Here is how to check your line that is running from the meter to your place if there is no leak in toilets.• If you have a shut-off valve, turn it off temporarily until you complete your check.• Check the meter. Remove the lid and watch the dial on meter’s top.• If there is any dirt or grass covering the top of the meter, dig around until you can see the meter head clearly. The valve is turned off so if there is any leak, it is between the house and the meter unless you have a leaking valve which is very common too.• To locate the area of the leak, walk the distance between the meter and the valve until you find a sign of leak.• The signs of leak are such as soft muddy area or grass greener than the rest or growing faster.

4. General tips:

• Check your garden by looking at hoses, drip irrigation systems and taps. • If you have a swimming pool, call a water damage restoration services to check it for leaks.• Check your shower for leaks; it is a common area for leaks.

Water damage restoration accidents can be very serious especially if it is combined with contamination which leads to serious health and environmental problems. Water is one of the essential elements for the survival of all creatures on Earth so we need to take water damage accidents especially those related to contamination seriously. Let’s see the most serious water damage restoration accidents through history.

1. U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune: We can sum up what happened in the following points.

• The contamination that happened in this camp lasted for about 30 from 1952 to 1987. The number of people that were affected by this accident is estimated by about 500,000.• The chemicals that were found in the water affected the people with fatal diseases such as cancer (nearly all types of cancer), reproductive disorders, birth defects, and many rare conditions.• The symptoms appeared after a while. The families and residents of the camp consumed the water as normal; the water that contains chemicals and carcinogens.• There are some methods to get this water clean like Air Stripping and the evaporation of TCE and Volatile Organic Compounds.• There are some lawsuits and claims against the camp that should be taken seriously.

2. Woburn Massachusetts Water Contamination:We can sum up what happened in the following points.

• Adell K. Heneghan at the University of Idaho made a case study that showed that the water of Woburn Massachusetts was contaminated for about 10 years from 1969 to 1979.• The diseases that affected the people there were fatal. There were 12 cases of children affected by leukaemia. The people of the area at the height of the contamination suffered from liver, kidney, prostate, and urinary cancers. Congenital anomalies and birth defects were common too. • The chemicals that present in the water are PCE, TCE, Chloroform, 1, 2 Dichloroethene and Arsenic. To get the water clean, the recommended methods are GAC and Air Stripping.

3. Hinckley Water Contamination: Another example of contamination as a water damage restoration disaster is Hinckley Water Contamination. From 1952 to 1956, many people were reported to fall sick after being exposed to the contaminated water.

The chemicals were very nasty and people complained of nearly all types of cancers and birth problems. The pollution was made by dropping hexavalent chromium or Chromium-6 in addition to the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). After the examination of the water, the PBS found that the best effective way to get this water clean is to us an ion exchange treatment unit especially to get rid of Chromium-6.

4. Yamuna India:This is one of the most terrifying situations on our planet. The river that is considered one of the most polluted rivers in the world is still used by the Indian people and it supplies about 70% of New Delhi’s water. Most of the filtering methods are useless so the people use the water in order to survive.

These 4 water damage restoration accidents will change your view about water damage. You will consider contamination as a source of water damage restoration too which is kind of one of the most serious situations on Earth.

In order to understand water damage restoration well, you need to understand its definition, categories, classes and restoration. It is one of the essential industries nowadays as it may cause severe damages that cost millions of dollars. Let’s start with the definition of water damage restoration and go through the rest of all the details.

• The definition of water damage restoration: Water damage restoration is defined as the losses that result from water; it may reach millions of dollars. The damages don’t just result from water but they also result from rotting of wood, rusting of steel and many other forms of damages.

• Categories:

There are three categories of water damage:

1. Category 1:This category includes the sources of water that do not have any threats to humans which are known as sources of clean water. Examples of these sources are the water supply lines when they break, a tub or sink when they overflow, and the malfunctions of appliance that also include the lines of water supply.

2. Category 2:This category includes the sources of water that have a degree of contaminants that can be chemical, physical or biological. This water is known as the grey water and it causes sickness or discomfort when living creatures consume or expose themselves to it as it has harmful micro-organisms and the nutrients that are consumed by these micro-organisms.

3. Category 3:This category includes unsanitary agents, harmful bacteria and fungi which cause severe discomfort or sickness which is known as black water.

• What is the difference between Category 2 and Category 3?

1. Category 2: This includes the water that is not properly removed from buildings and still not stagnant.

2. Category 3:This includes the black water in addition to the stagnant water of the second category.

• Classes:How can you determine the class of water damage? Well, this is determined by the evaporation rate which is based on the types of the affected materials, the wetness, and whether the water is in a room or an open space. Restoration services consider damage class determination as the first step to be able to repair the damages well.

1. Class 1: • Slow evaporation rate.• Water affects only a part of a room• Materials have a low porosity and a little moisture is absorbed by them.

2. Class 2:• Fast evaporation rate.• Water affects the whole room, carpet and furniture.• Water reaches the walls, but less than 24 inches.

The restoration process varies from simple to complex according to the severity of water damage so categories and classes are essential and help the restoration agents to repair everything properly. Find out the best water damage restoration service that use the best equipment and know what exactly how to deal with your specific situation. It is better if you asked for recommendations from people who passed through what you are experiencing.